Tuesday: Fed transparency, dereg in the House; tax debate in the Senate

The House meets at 10 a.m. for speeches, then at noon to work on three suspension bills — including one requiring a full audit of the Federal Reserve — and the first of two deregulation bills House Republicans will move this week.

The Fed bill is H.R. 459, the Federal Reserve Transparency Act, from Rep. Ron Paul (R-Texas). It would require a full Fed audit for the first time, including an audit of its monetary policy decisions.

Two other suspension bills are up Tuesday — H.R. 5986, amending the African Growth and Opportunity Act, and H.R. 4157, the Preserving America's Family Farms Act.

Also Tuesday, the House will approve a rule allowing for consideration of H.R. 6082, the Congressional Replacement of President Obama's Energy-Restricting and Job-Limiting Offshore Drilling Plan. That bill would require the Obama administration to conduct a series of delayed offshore oil leases.

Once the rule is approved, members will debate the bill and could start work on the eight amendments that were made in order.

The rule also governs debate for H.R. 4078, the Red Tape Reduction and Small Business Job Creation Act, which would shut down major regulations from the federal government until the unemployment rate falls to 6 percent. It would also prevent so-called "midnight regulations" in between the November election of a new president and his Jan. 20 inauguration.

House work on the "red tape" bill is expected Wednesday.

The Senate meets at 10 a.m., and will continue debate on S. 3412, the Democrats' Middle Class Tax Cut Act. The Senate advanced the bill Monday by agreeing to end debate on the motion to proceed to the bill.

The actual vote on the motion to proceed to the bill could come Wednesday, or earlier depending on whether there is any agreement on what amendments will be considered.

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